The inauguration of two new tennis courts at the Satdobato Tennis Complex on Saturday has opened doors for the All Nepal Tennis Association (ANTA) to organize international tennis championships in Nepal.

With the completion of two additional courts, the complex now has six tennis courts, meeting the requirement of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for organizing international events.

Manoj SJB Rana of Manjayakar Tennis Fan Club, Bikash Jung Rana of Shikhar Insurance, Prithivi Bahadur Pandey of Nepal Investment Bank, Raju Shrestha of Speedway Cargo and Dinesh Tuladhar of Hotel Himalaya had contributed Rs 500,000 each for the construction of the new courts.

According to Manoj SJB Rana, also the president of ANTA, the two courts were completed at a cost of Rs 2.8 million.

Rana believes Nepal will be in a position to host international tournaments from January 2015 after renovating other facilities around the complex.

Apart from taking the standard of Nepali tennis to a whole new level, Rana is hopeful that the hosting of international tennis championships will also contribute to tourism promotion in the country.

"Nepali tennis will take a significant leap in the coming years as hosting of international championships also means that Nepali players will get an opportunity to face superior global opponents and they will be having a busy season. We will not go any further by hosting domestic tournaments only. As the number of youngsters playing tennis is on the rise, it is high time we looked for the most fruitful alternative."

"Not only this, we are also partnering with the Nepal Tourism Board to promote tourism in the country through tennis, which means we can kill two birds with one stone," said Rana, "Most importantly, we would like to see one of our players qualifying for the U-18 Junior Grand Slam tournament in three years´ time."

Rana further said hosting international events would not only help tennis gain popularity but also help Nepal reap benefits from the donations of ITF and Association of Tennis Professionals.

ANTA is also planning to upgrade the complex by constructing a stadium around court two, three, four and five, with a seating capacity of 200, and building a hard court in the complex.

​News Source : http://www.myrepublica.com